Synopsis:
U2 had been a major entity in the rock music world for many years by the time they released the "Achtung Baby" album. Yet, it was this album that brought the band from popular rock act to multimedia force as their concerts began to include the video screen as an important part of the show. Following "Achtung Baby" was the "Zooropa" album and one of U2's most successful (both artistically and commercially) tours, the Zoo TV Tour, in which the multimedia experience was expanded upon. This 1993 concert in Sydney, Austraila captures the Irish rockers in prime form, performing such hits as "Numb," "Even Better than the Real Thing," "One," "Bullet the Blue Sky," and "Where the Streets Have No Name."

15 years after the fact, it seems hard to remember what a shock U2’s early 90s transition was. They left behind the super serious, painfully earnest rockers of the 80s and suddenly embraced irony and a winking sense of humor. They also took on a more electronic bent in their music with 1991’s Achtung Baby.

Some fans resented the change, but for most of us, we fully embraced the New U2. Achtung became a smash hit, and the following 1992-93 redefined their scope as a live act. A serious multimedia extravaganza, the “ZooTV” tour began with US arenas in the winter/spring of 1992, shifted to European arenas in May and June, and graduated to American stadiums that summer and fall. From there, ZooTV played European stadiums in the spring and summer of 1993 before the tour finished with a smattering of fall shows in Australia and New Zealand before the tour ended in Tokyo – the 157th concert over 22 months.

I saw ZooTV in person twice. I took in an indoor show in Philly and an outdoor one in DC. Though the tour consistently received rave reviews, I can’t say my live experiences with it left me impressed. Frankly, it was a lot to take in, especially via the enormous sensory overload of the stadium show. U2 threw so much visual information at the fan that it became tough to know where to focus.

I embraced the tour much better on home video via this ZooTV Live from Sydney production. Shot at the Sydney Football Stadium on November 27 1993, the program came from the very end of the long tour. In fact, the ZooTV trek lasted so long U2 had time to produce another album along the way; summer 1993’s Zooropa appeared during a break in shows.

This means Sydney boasts a few Zooropa tunes. We get “Lemon”, “Stay (Faraway, So Close!)”, “Daddy’s Gonna Pay For Your Crashed Car”, “Dirty Day” and “Numb”, a rare lead vocal showcase for the Edge. Plenty of Achtung material still appears. We find “Zoo Station”, “Mysterious Ways”, “One”, “The Fly”, “Until the End of the World”, “Love Is Blindness” and “Even Better Than the Real Thing”. The covers of Lou Reed’s “Satellite of Love” and Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling In Love” come from this period. The former popped up on the single for “One”, while Bono did “Falling” solo for the Honeymoon in Vegas soundtrack.

Moving into the band’s back catalog, 1988’s Rattle and Hum generates “Angel of Harlem”, and the band also covered “Unchained Melody” in that era; it originally appeared as a B-side with “All I Want Is You”. We get a smattering of tunes from U2’s breakout release, 1987’s The Joshua Tree. It gives us “Where the Streets Have No Name”, “Bullet the Blue Sky”, “With or Without You” and “Running to Stand Still”. “Pride (In the Name of Love)” stems from 1984’s The Unforgettable Fire, while “New Year’s Day” originally appeared on 1983’s War. We find no tunes from 1982’s October or 1980’s Boy.

For reasons I’ve never understood, Sydney drops one song from the original concert: Achtung’s “Tryin’ to Throw Your Arms Around the World”. This tune appeared during the 1993 pay-per-view broadcast but never made it onto the 1994 VHS or LD editions. It also fails to show up here. Why not reinstate it? I don’t know, but it remains absent.

Since 14 of the show’s 22 songs – including the two Achtung-era covers – first appeared within the two years prior to this concert, obviously ZooTV went with a real emphasis on the then-new. U2 would find it tough to do a set with so much current material today. Granted, they involve more new tunes on their tours than most long-establish acts of their stature. For instance, eight of the numbers from 2005’s Vertigo tour emanated from 2004’s How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. That’s a much better percentage than you’d get from most decades-old acts.

Still, ZooTV found the band at a point where they could much more heavily emphasis the current. That’s largely because Achtung was such a big hit, but it also worked due to the nature of the ZooTV production. The band’s early 90s material fit the high-tech nature of the show better than their earthier prior tracks. Of course, they meld the older tunes into the concert well, but the techno tone of Achtung and Zooropa makes a lot of sense within the performance’s themes.

While remembered as a massive visual spectacular, ZooTV’s greatest pleasures stemmed from its musical prizes. The DVD offers a mix of what I consider to be virtually definitive versions of some songs. After all these years, I thought I’d started to become immune to the appeal of “Bullet the Blue Sky”. It’s battled with “Zoo Station” as my favorite U2 song for years, but I must admit overexposure at U2’s live shows had begun to make me a little sick of it.

The fiery rendition from Sydney reminded me why I love the song so damned much. So aggressive and incendiary, each time I listen to it, the tune makes me want to beat the crap out of somebody. As odd as it sounds, I mean that in a good way. This edition packs such a potent wallop that it always gets under my skin.

I especially like the sequencing and transitioning found during Sydney. “Dirty Day” is a forgettable Zooropa number, but it works well as a lead-in to “Bullet”. The latter then moves smoothly into “Running to Stand Still”. Indeed, the aggressiveness of “Bullet” acts as a great contrast to the dreamy darkness of “Running”. From there we move moodily into a rousing “Where the Streets Have No Name” for a great four-song sequence.

Speaking of segues, I love the move between “Until the End of the World” and “New Year’s Day”. In subsequent years, U2 have paired those two songs, but for unknown reasons, they never link them in this way anymore; they always stop “World” before they launch “Day”. This makes no sense to me since the transition works so damned well. Like “Bullet”, I’ve threatened to tire of “Day” due to overexposure, but this rendition soars. It’s a truly thrilling take on the song that breathes new life into an old warhorse.

Really, the entire second half of the show offers a slew of auditory highlights. I love the concert’s ending. The studio Love Is Blindness never did a lot for me, but the live rendition is searing and emotional. From there, the gentle Bono and Edge version of “Can’t Help Falling In Love” ends the show on a warm and romantic note. Elvis fans will disagree, but I think this live take is the definitive one.

ZooTV boasts plenty of interesting visuals as well. The show’s opening may well be the coolest concert start ever. It’s amazing to see Bono’s goose-stepping Strangelovian routine – this is the same earnest seeker from a few years earlier? It’s a dynamic opening to the concert that remains stunning after all these years.

Bono startles again with his bizarre “MacPhisto” character. A wry, jaded take on the Devil, MacPhisto pops up for the encore and reminds us again how much changed with the band. I find it remarkable to see how successful that transition was. U2 turned into a very different band in the early 90s, and they not only kept their audience, but also they expanded their fanbase. Is MacPhisto over the top? Sure, but he creates an interesting persona who adds zip to the proceedings.

All that and a sexy bellydancer too! Veteran concert director David Mallet reins in the ZooTV excesses to present a surprisingly coherent take on the show. Mallet offers efficient direction without too many visual gimmicks or gratuitous audience shots. The concert comes across with clarity as it depicts the events.

I dearly wish I could see ZooTV on stage again. As I mentioned, I wasn’t wild about it the two times I watched it in 1992, but it really grew on me via this video rendition. The show succeeds in both the visual and auditory realms to become a truly memorable performance.

The DVD Grades: Picture B-/ Audio B+/ Bonus C-

U2: ZooTV Live from Sydney appears in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 on this single-sided, double-layered DVD; due to those dimensions, the image has not been enhanced for 16X9 televisions. While not a terrific visual presentation, I must admit Sydney looked better than expected for a videotaped performance from 1993.

Sharpness was reasonably solid. Inevitably, wide shots tended to come across with varying levels of softness. However, most of the show seemed more than adequately defined, and I never though the soft spots caused significant distractions. Only minor instances of shimmering jagged edges appeared, and no edge haloes created concerns. Source flaws were absent in this clean presentation.

Colors varied dependent on the lighting schemes. This wasn’t a bright, color-rich show; it mostly stayed with reds and dark tones. These could be a little mushy at times but usually seemed acceptably accurate and concise. Blacks were nice and deep, while the low-light shots showed good clarity. Despite some concerns, I thought the image was good enough to merit a “B-“.

Even better were the soundtracks of Sydney. In addition to the original stereo audio, we got new Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 mixes. Both seemed fairly similar, though I preferred the Dolby edition. I’ll discuss it first and then explain what seemed different between the two tracks.

As with most concert presentations, the soundfield concentrated on the front speakers. The music boasted nice stereo delineation in the front as the instruments spread across the speakers. Everything was easy to discern and appropriately placed. The surrounds usually focused on crowd noise, though they contributed an effective but not distracting layer of stadium ambience as well. I thought the soundfield created a solid sense of place and put us in the action.

Audio quality was also quite good. Vocals avoided the annoying stadium echo often layered onto this kind of footage. The singing seemed appropriate to the setting and reasonably natural and concise. High-end material presented nice bite and definition, while low-end was warm and full. Bass response always came across with good depth, and those elements rounded out the package well. All of this was good enough to end up with a “B+” soundtrack.

How did the DTS track differ from the Dolby one? I thought the soundfield and bass response were similar, but the Dolby mix exhibited greater bite when it came to high-end. Those elements were just a little dull on the DTS version. I didn’t think this was a tremendous difference, but it was enough to make me prefer the Dolby edition.

While the single-disc version of Sydney offered the concert, a booklet and nothing else, this “Deluxe Edition” adds a second platter of extras. These split into three areas: “Bonus Tracks”, “Extras” and “Documentaries”. Under Bonus Tracks, we find four numbers. “Tryin’ to Throw Your Arms Around the World” and “Desire” come from August 1992 performances at Yankee Stadium. Both previously aired on a 1992 Fox special.

“Desire” is particularly interesting due to Bono’s flashy suit and over the top narcissistic character. “Arms” offers some montage elements as we see a slew of babes Bono brought onstage for the song. “Desire” also throws out a bunch of shots taken from Bono in the streets and adds non-concert audio. It doesn’t help that we occasionally hear annoying narration from the TV show’s host. Why the DVD omits the Sydney performance of “Arms” cut from the original video remains a mystery to me. I’m also not wild about the plain 2.0 audio here. I’m glad to get these tracks, but neither stands out as tremendously memorable.

Next come two songs from the June 19 1992 “Stop Sellafield Concert”. We get “The Fly” and “Even Better Than the Real Thing”. Both continue to suffer from lackluster 2.0 sound, and the presentation is erratic too. Due to constant text overlays and choppy cutting, “The Fly” is almost unwatchable, and “Thing” also subjects us to various video gimmicks. This negatively affects both tunes.

As we shift to “Extras”, two elements appear. Video Confessional lasts five minutes, 14 seconds and shows various concertgoers as they tape admissions about themselves. This was vaguely interesting in the context of the live show but kind of annoying here. Numb Karaoke gives us a kind of music video for “Numb” and removes Edge’s vocals from the audio so we can croon along with it. This is interesting as an alternate version of the song, but I don’t care about the Karaoke side of things.

Now we move to the three “Documentaries”. A Fistful of Zoo TV runs seven minutes, 49 seconds and offers a fairly chaotic look at the concert tour. We get quick soundbites from Bono, Edge, and Larry Mullen along with short concert clips. The highlights come from Bill Clinton’s call to the band during a radio show as well as a montage of MacPhisto bits. Otherwise this piece is too coherent to add much, especially since the last few minutes just reiterate the version of “Desire” we get elsewhere.

Zoo TV – The Inside Story goes for four minutes and 11 seconds as it presents some remarks from the Edge and Brian Eno about the tour’s genesis and development. Despite the clip’s brevity, it gives us a few nice insights, especially when it takes us behind the scenes of the complicated production.

Finally, Trabantland fills seven minutes, 47 seconds with remarks from Bono, Mullen, Edge, Adam Clayton, manager Paul McGuinness, photographer Anton Corbijn, and Trabant plant manager Dieter Otto. They tell us of why the band used Trabants in the “One” video and in the tour. A few good comments appear, but the show mostly gives us shots of the Trabants.

The “Deluxe Edition” offers a booklet that expands on the one from the single-disc set. It includes the same photos and text from Adrian Deevoy as well as some other elements. Deevoy adds comments about the DE and we get some interesting reproductions of bits such as the fake money handed out at the shows. The expanded booklet is a winner.

This DE also includes copious Easter Eggs. For the first one, land on “Extras” on the main menu. Go “Right” from there and then “Down”. Now press “Enter” to get a screen that says “Abort”. From there, press 2, 7, 1, and 1 in order. This treats you to a time lapse look at the set-up and breakdown of the Zoo TV arena stage as well as a really fast version of the concert. Accompanied by Zooropa’s “Some Days Are Better Than Others”, the four-minute and 14-second clip is an interesting one-time diversion.

From the “Documentaries” page, highlight “Play All” and zoom through the material. Back at that menu, highlight “Subtitles” and press “Down” and then “Left”. This spotlights an “O” onscreen; hit “Enter” when this happens and you’ll be able to see “Interference”, a 24-minute and 45-second documentary. “Interference” features remarks from Bono, Edge, Mullen, and Clayton. They discuss the band’s origins and path up until Achtung Baby. We then follow that album’s creation and the involved elements as well as some info about Zoo TV. It’s a good mix of various musical clips and information.

For the final Egg, head to “Extras” and go to the part that reads “DVD Credits”. Press “Down” then “Right” to bring up another “O”. Hit “Enter” for another “Abort” screen and then click on 1, 9, 9, and 3 in sequence. For all that work you’ll get an odd 75-second collection of nuclear war-related warnings and images. It’s kind of a waste of time, though if you listen closely, you’ll hear audio from Alien in the background.

Whether or not U2’s 1992-93 ZooTV tour stands as their best remains up for debate. Personally, I preferred 1997’s PopMart as an in-person experience, but ZooTV works awfully well as a video program. Live In Sydney presents a memorable show with vivacity and clarity. The DVD offers reasonably good video along with pretty solid audio. The “Deluxe Edition” adds a minor smattering of extras.

As a diehard U2 fan, I’m happy to have this two-disc DE. However, I think it’ll appeal mostly to collectors like me. The DE retails for $13 more than the single-DVD version, and for most people, it won’t be worth the extra money.